Quark has taken the wraps off a significant update to its flagship product, QuarkXPress. Most of the changes to the new version 9 surround digital publishing. However, the technology for the hottest niche, iPad publishing, won’t be part of QuarkXPress 9 until as many as three months after XPress 9 ships in April.
Pricing
Like QuarkXPress 8, version 9 will cost $799 ($299 for upgrades from the prior two versions). Until April 30, 2011, anyone who purchases or upgrades to QuarkXPress 8 at regular price can upgrade to QuarkXPress 9 for free. If you bought QuarkXPress 8 between January 1, 2011, and February 23, 2011, you can upgrade to QuarkXPress 9 for free.
Publish to Digital Devices without Learning to Code
Quark is targeting three niches within digital publishing:
1. ePUB. This file format is the e-book standard supported by Amazon’s Kindle, Barnes & Noble’s NOOK, and Apple’s iBooks. In QuarkXPress 9, export to ePUB is easy. (While there’s far more to creating workable e-book files than exporting to ePUB–much of which happens after leaving the page-layout environment–that’s not Quark’s fault.) XPress 9’s new Reflow View lets you tweak content headed for ePUB’s reflow-based outputs.
2. Blio eReader. This application lets you read e-book files on Windows laptop and desktop computers, and on mobile devices running the iOS, Android, and Silverlight. Blio eReader a free download. Quark says that QuarkXPress 9 is the “only page layout software with direct support for the Blio eReader.”
3. iPad. Eventually, QuarkXPress 9 will include
App Studio for QuarkXPress, which gives you tools to add hyperlinks, buttons, slideshows, pop-up windows, scrollable regions, Web overlays, and audio and video to XPress files. From what I saw of the tools when attending a briefing in January, the capabilities are limited compared to Adobe’s Digital Publishing Suite. On the flip side, those tools will feel familiar to XPress users, and adding this kind of iPad-supported interactivity in QuarkXPress is relatively simple.
One big caveat: App Studio for QuarkXPress won’t be available when version 9 ships in April. You may have to wait as long as 90 days before it’s available as a free download to registered XPress 9 owners. Until then, you’ll have to use the iPad Publishing Service for QuarkXPress.
New Features for Good Ol’ Print Publishing
QuarkXPress 9 also includes a scattering of new features not aimed at digital publishing, several of which will be familiar to fans of Gluon’s XTensions:
Bullets and Numbering: That’s right, there was no way to automatically format bullets and numbers before now. In a nice touch, the new feature is compatible with Microsoft Word import and export.
Conditional Styles: Using “if then” rules, you can now automatically format content.
Story Editor: You may not think much of this word-processor-like view of your files until you need to edit 9-point type that stretches over multiple pages. Then you will be very, very happy.
Callouts: Once you attach a box or group (known as a “Callout”) to a page, spread, text box, paragraph, or character, the Callout moves along with that text.
ShapeMaker: This wizard lets you create corner effects, waves, polygons, stars, and spirals.
ImageGrid: Catalog designers and others who rely on grids of images will appreciate this new feature.
Cloner: It’s a new way to combine and split layouts, both within a single layout and among multiple layouts.
Linkster: This feature gives you granular control over links between existing text boxes and stories.
For more on QuarkXPress 9, visit the company’s website.
This article was last modified on January 8, 2023
This article was first published on February 23, 2011
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Hey kids, grow up. You may THINK it’s cool to bash Quark, but it really isn’t.
Not only can you make cooler, more refined designs in XPress 9, but you can get them out to more useful media types. It’s obvious that Quark and Apple are better “friends” than Adobe and Apple. Capitalist Suite is way too expensive and it’s just boring and stodgy now, very corporate. I can do just fine with CS2 PS and AI or use the new free online image software popping up all over the place that do the same thing or more.
Not only can you make cooler, more refined designs in XPress 9, but you can get them out to more useful media types. It’s obvious that Quark and Apple are better “friends” than Adobe and Apple. Capitalist Suite is way too expensive and it’s just boring and stodgy now, very corporate. I can do just fine with CS2 PS and AI or use the new free online image software popping up all over the place that do the same thing or more.
Shame the iPad stuff won’t be there from day one but otherwise this is a pretty exciting release and just want designers are looking for i.e. digital publishing.
What’s this QuarkEXpress? Does anybody really care anymore?
One question… Why?